It is hard to not notice Concetto because it is right in the middle of town, at The Cathay, where everyone passes by every now and then. It is the Italian version of restaurant Saveur, which was popular among young people for offering low priced French food. The concept at Concetto seemed similar – short but sufficient menu, low prices, simple fuss-free decor and nicely plated food.

There’s a promotion for SMRT Citibank carholders exclusively – you get a free Tiramisu with every $25 spent. This is valid on all days expect PH and eve of PH. As it was a Monday, we were entitled to this for our meal.

They have a herb garden in the middle of the restaurant which is quite aesthetically pleasing. A lot of these herbs are used in Italian cooking.

I love tomatoes so I had to get this to start. Some of the tomatoes were riper and sweeter than the usual kind we have at home. Not bad. It was quite a simple salad in my opinion but with better than average tomatoes.

The egg was cooked to perfection with a very homogeneous doneness throughout, typical of sous vide cooking. The yolk was creamy and wasn’t very runny. The tortellini was unique but I wasn’t particularly fond of it. It isn’t the sort which I’ll recommend or order for myself again.

The plating is nice and there’s a good variety of vegetables here. The beef was slow cooked and the flavours were well absorbed. It was probably the better one among the 3 mains orders.

It wasn’t stated which cut of beef is used here but this wasn’t super fantastic, average at best. Pan seared foie gras can be ordered on it’s own for $7.90++.

By now, we have accumulated over $75 for the 3 of us, so we were entitled for 3 servings of Tiramisu according to the SMRT Citibank promotion. However, upon asking, the staff allowed us to have any dessert on the menu instead. This was great news because it’s always better to have variety!

I liked this dessert in every way because I liked every component. The chocolate used for this was rich and dark enough and I liked the varying textures due to the nuts. Anything with ice cream is good and the vanilla ice cream used here was not bad.

I remembered having this Saveur too. This is quite no fail and as usual it excelled in having many textures due to the meringue and crushed pistchios.

Tiramisu – $10.90++

This tiramisu is different from usual because it’s deconstructed. However, when you piece it back together it actually tastes very much like traditional tiramisu. In fact, the flavours were good enough to be labelled as above average in traditional tiramisu standards. I would like it even if it was in a traditional setting.

I feel that the desserts fared much better than the savoury food (which plating scored more than taste) and overall it’s quite a good option in town if you do not want to break the bank.

*****

*****